Unlike full-length movies, trailers are intended to immerse audiences in an entirely different reality for only a minute or two.
Let’s dive in together to Focus Video’s best movie trailer selections to date.
1) Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Starting off with a climactic musical crescendo which is seeming to be a growing trend in the world of movie trailers, we see Superman standing in the middle of a courtroom, being held responsible for the devastation left behind by the Kryptonians. We are also shown a shot of Bruce Wayne (Affleck) in the middle of the rubble, comforting a child, which sets the tone at the upcoming superhero showdown.
2) 10 Cloverfield Lane
The opening stretch of this trailer is a well-thought montage meant to deceive its audience with it’s sitcom-like look and feel, showing the main actors playing board games, making sandwiches, with everything feeling so cozy and domestic – right up to the point where the camera rises to reveal the ceiling of the bunker as the song slows to an ominous warp. The trailer left many of us with loads of questions, eager to know what this mysterious film was really all about.
3) Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The 2nd official trailer for Star Wars Episode 7 created a buzz for the film unlike anything we’ve seen in years. The trailer felt very authentic, unlike the prequels with their overly CG’d appearances. It tempted and teased us with Luke Skywalker’s voice-over and with new characters in a familiar world among many things which left millions of fans so eager for the coming movie installment.
4) Suicide Squad
The Suicide Squad trailer featuring Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” just couldn’t get any better; so good that it basically changed the film itself. The sizzle reel shown at Comic-Con in 2015 was a more accurate representation of what director David Ayer was going for at the time, but when this trailer version came out, people just went berserk over it. Warner Bros. was left with no other choice than to push for the final film to have a stronger resemblance to the tone of this trailer.
5) Guardians of the Galaxy
Faced with the challenge of selling audiences a team of second-string superheroes they’ve probably never heard of, the Marvel team rose to the occasion by treating the characters like instant stars. The enormous success of the trailer – and, subsequently, the film, which remains 2014’s highest grosser – can probably be attributed to four little words: “Hooked On A Feeling.” Just try to think of Guardians Of The Galaxy without hearing the joyful chorus of that Blue Swede song. Impossible!
6) The Revenant
The Revenant is, undoubtedly, the single strongest contender on this list. It isn’t presentational in its story, characters, or setting – it is experiential, opting to simply immerse audiences into its reality whether they know it or not, whether they want to or not. There is a majesty in its visuals and a subtlety in its sound design (which has music and, more especially, dialogue drowned out by the sound of heavy breathing for a good portion of its duration). Even the splash of mud on the camera lens, added to the gritty realism of the trailer.
7) Furious 7
With muscle cars parachuting out of a cargo plane, the return of the Fast and the Furious gang didn’t fail to excite fans all over the world! Beyond being an action-packed teaser, the trailer also served as a tribute to the late Paul Walker, who died during production. His remaining scenes were rewritten and completed via special effects and with his brothers serving as body doubles.
8) Godzilla
This clip doubles as the best single sequence of Godzilla itself: an artful, eerie, gorgeous moment of skydivers, free-falling into the middle of Godzilla-ravaged San Francisco, trailing red streaks of smoke flares behind them. The clip cuts between POV shots of the skydivers and extra-wide shots with the red streaks descending from the clouds. It’s utterly gorgeous and sells Godzilla as a cut above your normal brainless blockbuster, though the patented Godzilla shriek promised exciting thrills as well.